The Brave Bear
by rjww
Summary: This is my first published story, about young Alexander Bruda being thrown into war, it is also a bit of experimenting with certain genres of writing, so please review. Tanks will come later in the story. If you enjoyed this, please read Gravus02cx's stories! I find them truly exceptional; he is my chief editor.
1. A Smile

The Brave Bear

Chapter 1

Before I begin this story, I must inform you that this has nothing to do with bears, this story takes place in late 1939 and that this idea stemmed from purely me, yay originality.

**NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! **

I wake up to the cold morning air and to the new rounds of mourning from our neighbors for their son. Recently, the Nazis have been pushing into our territory and all Russian men have been called to fight. Every time the Germans capture another city, the army lowers the minimum age limit for soldiers one year. So far, after losing ten cities to the Germans, fifteen year old boys are forced to enlist and train. I, being 14, can only hope my way through the rest of the day that the line will hold and can protect another city.

"Alex! Breakfast is ready! Come before it grows cold!" My mom shouted in her high pitched voice.

"Okay mom!" Ugh, I don't want to move. Fine, I guess I will, for the motherland.

I dress and brush my teeth for the day, eat breakfast and head off to school. On the way to school, I hear the new groans and cries and worry from families over their sons. What a way to start the day.

There it is, school, I walk up the cracked steps in to the old halls. Problem about being as poor as I am is that you can't really afford watches or clocks and since nobody is here I can't tell if I'm too early or too late. I head into my first period history class, and everyone is there, looking at me like I'm some creature,

_I'm only a little late,_ I mutter.

Among those eyes I see the strange girl that enrolled yesterday, really, she is a mystery, she looks so German, but claims to be French. I want to talk to her, but she seems so unreachable, socially and physically. I sit down in my seat, and find that the seating arrangement has been changed; I now sit next to that very girl. We somehow end up playing the glancing game, I look at her, my eyes then flit away, she looks at me, and then looks away, we both turn toward each other and she begins to giggle a little, god, her smile is a rhapsody in itself.

I make her my next thought to think of to tune out the teacher; I manage to ask her name, Marie, before the teacher gets suspicious about us. While I think of Marie, I realize, in light of my worry about the war, how tremendously beautiful she is, sunshine golden hair and eyelashes, lips red as apples in the orchard, slightly pink skin, eyes blue, flecked with sparks of green. What a mesmerizing person she is…

"ALEXANDER! I've asked three times now, what are you doing, daydreaming? Now answer my question!" Yells the teacher,

"Uhh…" I have no idea what she's talking about, damn it.

"The question is what year was St. Petersburg founded?" Marie whispers to me, attentive and helpful, I liked her all the more.

"Uhh, 1703?" I stuttered in a tremulous voice, I recall her blabbering the number earlier on about the History of Russia's capital.

"THAT IS INCOR-... I mean, correct…" My teacher registered a surprise on her face, thinking that'd I'd finally shown my inattentiveness in class and was able to toss me into detention.

So I listen to the teacher babble on, not listening to a word she says, now that I've "proven" that I'm listening. The bell rings.

In recess, I walk to my lonely little corner of the yard, and guess who joins me, Marie.

"You're lucky I sit next to you." She says.

I chuckle, "I guess so, thanks for saving me in the class."

"No problem, but I'm wondering, what is your name?"

"Alexander." Marie really knows how to make me smile, which is a rare event in the past few days, with St. Petersburg needing to hold out or else I'll be fighting on the frontlines.

"You look troubled Alex, what is the matter?"

I just realized that I must've suddenly looked so down at my thoughts, my smile dropped from my face like a ton of bricks.

"Oh, it's nothing."

"Just tell me Alex."

She gives me puppy eyes, those blue eyes, must… not… weaken! Must… Keep… Secret! Argh! Curse my will of marshmallows! I end up telling her the whole rule about losing the cities to the Germans resulting in lowering of the age limit for forced enlistment for the army.

"Oh, why that's awful, Alex,"

I sigh, the feeling of delight I felt from meeting Marie dissolved, I felt droopy and sad all over again, like being awaken from the most wonderful dream.

"Well, the bell has been rung, let's head in, Marie." Even though Marie was sitting right next to me, I still felt no sense of comfort or freedom from her like I did when I came in late, I sighed, damn this war, it can kill the best of my feelings for other people.

A messenger burst through the door during the teacher's lecture and I jumped in fright, he handed a note to the teacher from a large leather satchel and darted off to the other classrooms. Dear lord, this note could only say one thing. The teacher read off of the note in a tremulous voice, her eyes becoming teary:

"St. Petersburg is now under control of the Nazis; all 14 year old boys are to report to the barracks by tomorrow, they will also be excused for the remainder of the day."

I froze, I stopped breathing and thinking for one moment, I never thought this could happen; I always had an optimistic view about the line holding strong. But now I'm going to be thrown in a war.

**NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! **

I woke up the next day, yesterday was mostly my mother and father hugging me and crying over me. I'm still too much in shock to say anything meaningful back to them for all their caring and love for me.

I head to the barracks; a gruff, bulky man is the recruiting officer,

"Name?" He says in a hoarse voice.

"Alexander Bruda."

"Alex, Alex, ah, here you are, it says: due to your high grades in the physical classes in your school, you will be training in the tank academy,"

At least I'll be fighting with armor.

"Please head over to the nurse to be tested."

I head over to the woman, who is surprisingly familiar; she runs me through a series of physical tests for my vision, my blood pressure, my hand eye coordination, etc. And then I get the will to ask her the questions that's been bothering me so.

"Excuse me miss," I ask, unsure of her response.

"Yes?"

"Are you French?"

"Yes."

"Do you have a daughter?"

"Yes." She began to look puzzled.

"Is her name Marie?"

"How do you know that?"

"I met her at school; she was a really great friend for the short time I knew her," I'm getting teary "and would you tell her… that she is a beautiful girl."

"I'll tell her, thank you, you are a brave child." She smiles.

**NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!**

Well, that it's folks, my very first published chapter! There is plenty more to come, so keep posted on my profile is you did like this story that much. Mind you, this is a totally original work, I'm not sure it matters, but I'd like to put that out there. One last thing, if you want to leave a review, please rate the overall story on 1 to 10, 1 being bull****, and 10 being terrific.


	2. We'll Meet Again

The Brave Bear

"We'll Meet Again"

Chapter 2

So! This is my second chapter for the brave bear; it has been edited and co-written by Gravus02cx. In the last chapter, Alex meets a lovely girl named Marie who lifted his gloom and made him happy for once in such a long time. But alas, this joy didn't last, for the war sucked him in and he is now been drafted by the army after a loss of another Russian city. Before you read on, I'd like to thank my editor for doing his job damn well.

Also before you read on, please do pardon my procrastination to writing this chapter, I'm exceptionally lazy. But I'll attempt to write more frequently.

_Gravus02cx- editor's note_: And here we go! So please review if you feel this story deserves one.

**NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!**

I wake up, knowing that this would be my last day in my hometown; I get ready for the rough day ahead. I was told to head to the local recruiting center at dawn, and as I was about to step out the door, my mother calls me,

"Alex! Alex, wait!"

I keep walking, my eyes growing moist, I don't want them to say anything, I want to be strong, but mother and father both rush to the door and stop me.

"Alexander, stop, we just want to say… that whatever happens to you, just remember we will always love you more than anything else in the world." And my parents both hug me tight as tears spring into my eyes and roll down my cheeks as I'm racked with uncontrollable sobs.

If I wasn't going off to war, I might've been embarrassed that my eyes were red and that I had dried tears on my cheeks and that my nose was runny, but I didn't care, in fact some of my fellow classmates were walking along the dirt roads and they looked in a similar state to me. But about five minutes away from the recruiting center, I get nudged by someone.

"Alex." It was Marie. She looks at me and smiles one of her sunshine smiles. I was simply too dumbfounded to say anything meaningful back, I thought she wouldn't bother to find me or do anything of the sort, but here she is, looking happy to see me. She took my hand in hers and squeezed, she made me feel warm inside. I manage to croak out some words.

"Why'd you bother to come find me?"

"I had to see you one last time."

She embraces me tightly and I feel that happiness I felt when I first met her. I hug back. We hold each other, for how long I don't know, but I don't care, because I don't want it to end. When we do finally separate, she kisses me on the cheek. I stare back at her in surprise, and she giggles.

"Your expression is funny; it is only a French custom." She smiles a rather devilish grin.

I feel a sudden rush of cheekiness, realizing this might be my last time I'll ever be able to do this; I lean in and kiss her, wrapping my arms around her. Amazingly, this is even better than embracing, for I feel as if I'm on. Her lips are stiff at first, but then soften into mine while she slowly embraces me back. The luscious hair falls in slight curls on her shoulders, and I can feel her rich curves against me. When we finally separate, she stares back at me in utter disbelief, this how I must've looked when she first kissed me. Then I get my chuckle and say,

"Your expression is funny; after all, that was probably the last time I'll do that in my life."

"Well, I wouldn't mind if you do that again."

I take that as my cue and kiss her again, but only for a short time.

"Wow, you're really into me, aren't you?"

"I just want to savor my last happy moments with you, Marie."

"That's… sweet of you." She says in genuine surprise, blushing deeply, with a sparkle of surprise in her eyes. Unfortunately, that was the very moment I realized I needed to move unless I wanted to be late to the recruitment center.

"I'm sorry Marie, but I have to go now."

She sighs heavily, "Alright, bye Alex." And as I dash off to the recruitment center, she shouts to me, "And remember Alex, I'll always think of you!"

"Until we meet again, Marie!" I shout back to her, I feel euphoric for the last time in a long time.

** NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! **

I arrive at the recruitment center. It was the same old dingy, depressing looking building with cracked concrete walls and floors. I entered and the same recruitment officer spoke gruffly.

"Name?" he asked, not bothering to look up.

"Alexander Bruda."

"Alex, Alex, Alex, where are… Ah, you are to head to truck K, the people there will provide you a duffel bag with the things you'll need for training. The fellow recruits you'll be riding with will be your crew members in the tank you are designated to fight in."

"Thank you, sir."

Silently, I walked to the truck area, where the recruits were exported to the training camps and find truck K. There was a man that looked quite similar to the recruiting officer inside the truck; I call out to him,

"Is this truck K?"

"Yes, you are late. Here are your materials."

He hands me a duffel bag and orders me onto the truck. The officer then tells the driver to "Get going", and we speed off, farther and farther away from the people I love.

**NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! **

I have to sit on the truck for a time that seems to have no end, with a bunch of people I don't know, and knowing this might be my last time I ever see home, then I cry at the thought. What a cruel fate I must have, but eventually I do fall sleep in spite of the bumpy ride and the stiff, upright wooden benches. I have a dreamless night, but then I open my eyes to the stinging pain in my right cheek from what felt like a hand. It was the recruiting officer.

"Wake up crybaby! You're in the army now and you're going to have to man up! No more sobbing over mommy!" The volume and tone of voice he spoke in and the things he says hurt even more than my thoughts from last night, but I hold in the tears and get my duffel bag.

I follow my crew into the barracks, quite a distance to walk. The barracks was in the same type of building as the recruitment office, a concrete building that was cracked in places, depressing, and poorly kept. On the long walk over, I drop a small tool from my duffel bag and a fellow crew member catches it before I even notice it fell out. A rather foreign looking guy, pale skin, sharp blue eyes, light auburn hair, a bit taller than me and maybe sixteen years of age. Perhaps a British guy from the lend-lease program the Brits had with us, send us more men and we'll give you money; this recruit was help we _very_ much needed against those Nazis.

"You dropped your knife! Watch your things! " He says with a half-smile as he tosses it to me. I just manage to catch the closed multi-tool. The way he speaks seems very loud, either that or it's because I've not heard a word for about ten hours.

"I will, what's your name?"

"Charles. Yours?"

"Alex. Are you from Britain?"

"Yes, I am. But what are you here for? You seem a little young to be fighting in a war like this."

"Well, you aren't much older than me." Charles snickers at my comeback; I was always sharp tongued, especially when it came to teachers.

Perhaps this new friend will make my life around this place less lonesome and my last days a bit more memorable, maybe more worthwhile. But right after that little incident, there seemed nothing more to talk about; I suppose the realization of our imminent deaths after going through these camps gave an air of unbreakable silence.

**NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!**

Tall metal fencing made of barbed wire and wooden posts go up at least 30 feet and entirely surround the barracks. I cannot quite tell if the gates are to keep people outside of the complex or inside. Our leading officer shows the guards some papers and lets us inside the barracks. Its funny how sometimes, if you visit someplace that you've never seen before, it always looks different than what you predicted. But the barracks looked exactly as what I imagined, rather… rugged and simple.

The first building that the officer showed us was the sleeping quarters, a makeshift looking establishment of wooden planks and bent nails. As my fellow crew walked through the corridor, he said that for the rest of the day, we could just relax in our bunks. I really wanted to make it a point to get to know Charles better.

Rather regrettably, the officer tells us to head inside the bunks and I turn around from the other crew members and open the door to my bunk. It smelled of pigsty and outhouses, I wrinkled my nose in disgust.

"Lord! The room smells worse than my mom's cooking." Charles said playfully, I chuckled. It seemed we were to be bunking together. Grand, I've made one last friend before I go to hell.

**NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!**

I wake up to the blaring sound of trumpeting. Damn, the sun isn't even up, what the world would we need to be doing at this hour?

"Rise and shine newbies, time to work!" The officer booms semi-joyfully throughout the smelly dormitory.

Well, I suppose orders are orders, I get up and strip to change.

The courtyard is the assigned place for new recruits in the morning unless ordered otherwise. I head there, making sure to be a bit early, yet I arrive as the last one. Charles waves me over to where he was standing, as all the other recruits had to do. Damned government can't afford some stools for the army.

"What do you suppose they have in store for us today?" I ask Charles,

"A day full of fun and games." The bastard replies with a trollface, something he seems to be good at. _'Well damn…' _I think grimly as the officer steps up to the front.

"Alright noobs, today we begin our first day of heavy-duty training!" the officer yells with a devilish smirk. Groans and sighs were heard across the camp as fellow recruits shuddered at what might be in store for us. I'll never know why, yet even to this day, but I chuckled at the officer.

**NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!**

A seriously overdue chapter, but as usual, please rate on a 1 to 10 scale and review fairly as you see fit. Goodbye ladies and gentlemen, and until we meet again.

_We'll Meet Again_

_Ross Parker & Hugh Charles_

We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when,

But I know we'll meet again, some sunny day…

Keep smiling through, just like you always do,

'Til the blue skies chase the dark clouds far away…

So will you please say hello, to the folks that I know,

Tell them I won't be long,

They'll be happy to know, that as you saw me go,

I was singing this song…

We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when,

but I know we'll meet again, some sunny day.


	3. A Call to Arms

The Brave Bear

"A Call to Arms"

Chapter 3

I've attempted to work on my stories more often; now that I'm temporarily on spring break (skool is year round for me). As usual, please review fairly as you see fit.

Post Script- Ladies and gentlemen, this is also the first chapter in this story to have tank on tank action in it! So please review on that as well.

**NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!**

I thought to myself that all this pain and discomfort would be over eventually, but it seemed like it never would. The only thing I seemed to gain from such suffering was appreciation of food and a dry place, strength, but mostly soreness. I've been in training now for a month, and what made it worse is that they don't let you write letters to anyone outside of the complex for fear of it being in code or there being some spy. I don't like it, I can't talk about the barracks to my family or Marie, but it isn't like I can negotiate with an ape as ruthless as the officer.

Charles has become a good friend; he's someone I can relate to, someone to share my suffering and thoughts. He also knows a good deal more than me about the female species, although he hasn't gotten quite as far as me, so he says. Since I've befriended Charles the grueling training isn't quite as bad as I thought it to be, he has actually made me laugh during our break times in spite of my greatest fear becoming reality, going off to war. In other words, we're pals who will help each other scrape each other off the floor, which we both have to do daily.

Today was one of the semi- daily running exercises, to jog through ten miles of the rugged forest terrain. The reason the run is "semi-daily" was because the officer is a drunken gorilla of man and occasionally forgets to assign it. Of course, I'm not complaining about the gorilla's forgetfulness.

Not only was it beginning to get colder, but a sprinkling of rain began and it bit into my exposed skin, which was essentially all of my extremities and my face. They had you run in hellish conditions with nothing more than a thin T-shirt, shorts, sock, shoes and undergarments.

Charles was horseracing's length ahead of me on the trail, perhaps because of his resistance to the London spitting, but most likely because he is one of the stronger recruits. I had to accept the fact that I was one of the weaker boys among the recruits, and as I thought that, I didn't quite pay enough attention to the ground I was jogging on and tripped on a root into a puddle of mud. Foolish of me, oh well, one of the things they teach you in the barracks is to pick yourself up. I stumbled on, through rain, through shine, through snow and sleet, the torture must go on!

Only the fourth mile and my throat burned, my knees seemed to creak, the mud ran down my face and shirt from the rain, and my entire body seemed numb and cold, but what the exercise gave me was the ability to use my fingers and arms and legs freely no matter how little feeling I had in them. So I ran on. After what seemed like a long and perpetual nightmare of continuous hurt, it simply stopped, and once I became conscious of where I was, it seemed I actually finished the ten mile run without fainting.

**NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!**

That was the last exercise for the day, and I thanked god for it. I went to the mess hall and got a snack from the old lady that served meals. As I lay on my bunk, nibbling on the roll and the sipping my drink, I thought back to my first day here, thinking of my first drills, struggling and exhaustion. I thought of Marie. As I was daydreaming, I realized that it was only six o' clock p.m., much earlier than the day should normally end. In fact, it was a whole three hours before it should normally end. Strange.

But there is always a first time for something weird, so I just took a nap.

I was roused by the bugler shortly after, some sort of announcement to be made at the gym. Today was getting weirder and weirder; an announcement at eight o' clock?

I was able to spot Charles before I got to the gym, and asked to see if he knew anything about this unusual schedule today,

"Have any idea what's with today Charles?"

"No, I don't have a clue about this announcement or today's schedule." He replied. This began to get worrisome.

Everyone was tightly packed into the gym and there was only a few dim and flickering light bulbs lighting the rather large complex. It felt rather stifling and clammy with so many people in the one building. All of the recruits were chatting about what the announcement might be, making quite a din. Eventually the officer took his place on stage, looking rather solemn. He began his speech,

"Gentlemen, you've all trained well and worked hard. But here have been a change of events, another city has been lost to the Nazis, and the top generals feel that they're getting too close to Stalingrad, our industrial capital. Without Stalingrad, this war is lost, for we wouldn't have enough materials to supply our soldiers. In fact, we're already having trouble equipping all of the new recruits. So, to prevent this catastrophe, we are going to rush all of our new recruits to make an emergency call to arms."

Several other recruits began to cry out in protest, "But we haven't finished our training, most of us haven't even _seen_ our tanks, let alone have studied them!"

"I am sorry; I have no say in this. You are all going to be assigned your tanks with your crews now, and then tomorrow we will roll out."

I could feel everyone's heart jump into their throats, because mine did too. At the same time, I had to kind of expect this, I'd eventually be sent to the front. But I was being shipped to the front so suddenly, and I didn't know how to do half of my duties as the gunner! At least I had Charles by my side.

Before I could fully realize the difficulty of what fighting was to come, my crew commander was called.

"Charles' crew, head to the depot, you are assigned the tank in slot five of row three." A training officer announced,

"May I ask what tank it is?" Charles asked,

"You'll see."

How promising this would be, from the look on the officer's face, it'd probably be some ancient, dinky tank armed with a potato gun, a hand crank for an engine and butter for armor.

**NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!**

I take it back.

It was the biggest and strongest tank that the motherland had to offer, the KV-2. Armed with a gun big enough to fit your head in (not that'd I want to), armor thick as a hand is wide, and an engine with five hundred and sixty horses in it. I felt like I'd be invincible in that machine, but we'd been taught that overconfidence of your machine could lead to your downfall and death, and I wasn't interested in that.

I woke up to the bugler's song, and I was tired. I usually was always tired, but last night I pulled an all-nighter, and I was _tired_. I was mostly tired from listening to the officers and their long overviews of the tank and lessons on what different enemy tanks looked like, what they were and their specifications. I was thankful for it, but after all that I got to bed so late that night (or this morning) I felt like I was asleep for minutes. Well, for the motherland, I got up and got into my fighting gear.

Since the tanks were so slow, they had tank transporters and the tanks had been driven close to the fighting front, while the tank's pilots were right behind them in other trucks. It made me very anxious thinking about it, going straight into the tank to fight and I've not even fired its gun or driven in it. But for my country I would, I'd have to. I had that little rush of anxiety, but drowsiness overtook me, and I slept for the rest of the ride to the front, as did the rest of my crew.

**NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!**

"Wake up men," It was the main officer that slapped my face the first day I got here, and this is first time that I can remember he didn't call us maggots to address my crew, "get ready to fight, but first, head to the open area, I have a last little something to say."

Our crew went where all the other recruits seemed to gather and waited for the officer to make his last speech. I breathed in a breath of fresh air, listened to the birds chattering and saw the sun rise. The officer stepped onto a makeshift wooden platform,

"Alright men, I have couple last things to say before you all go to fight for your country. Firstly, what you have all been wondering, my full name is Vladimir Dandelion," he earned quite a few chuckles, one of them from me, "Which is why I preferred to be called officer, or sir for the last ten years when I became a training officer here. I only told you recruits because I think you deserve to know who you were under. Lastly, do not be afraid of your enemy, for you are in the hands of god, do not take one step back, believe in your crew and fellow tankers, be strong, be brave, and fight like a bear!" He got all of the recruits excited and with his last line we all cheered for our officer.

After such inspiration, we were to be briefed by another officer (they never seemed to reveal their names, except for officer Dandelion) and were told to take back a town occupied by the Germans, about 10 miles north, but to get there, we had to go through a thick forest that was likely swarmed with dug in tank destroyers and scouts. Our mission was to survive the tank destroyers in the forest, make sure not to get spotted and make it to the city, take them by surprise and take back the city. Seemed like a real longshot, with the tanks we have and the crew training, but we'd try.

The rations were packed, the shells were loaded, the tanks all had gas and toolboxes in case the tracks were blown or the rangefinders got shot. We were going to war alright.

"O.K. men, roll out and kick some Fascist ass!"

"Yes, officer Dandelion!" All the recruits yelled back with a cheeky smile, and I closed the hatch to my machine and got to my post.

**NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!**

It smelled of fresh paint, gunpowder, and oil inside the KV-2, but mostly gunpowder. It was rather dark inside the machine, being lit only by a weak and flickering red colored light bulb. The radioman readied himself at his post, Charles took his post at the top of the turret, being the eyes of the machine, both loaders started to put a 110lb. H.E. shell in to the massive 152mm breech of the howitzer, I waited for Charles' orders at the gun and once the entire crew was ready, the driver reeved up the engine. There was a steady and rather loud rumbling going throughout the steel juggernaut from the engine, and a great bubble of anxiety was growing in my stomach, for the rumbling seemed to go on forever, and all could I do was to wait for Charles to give me an order. But he didn't for a very long time, or what seemed like a very long time. So I thought to myself that Charles was a capable soldier, a capable commander and that I could trust him. This calmed me a little, but I still had the butterflies.

On and on the monotonous rumbling of the engine went, and I began to calm down more and more, and I felt more and more ready to get into the fight.

Then, there was a loud shrieking sound that left a ringing in my ears toward the right side of the turret and I could see a slight dent in that place, in response the driver stopped the tank to make spotting easier. We've been spotted and someone was shooting at us, Charles would have to spot the enemy fast. Moments after that, Charles said,

"I see a cloud of smoke, it must've been from the cannon that shot us, Alex, aim at the smoke cloud at about two o' clock, and maybe two hundred meters away; it looks like some sort of tank destroyer." He said rather calmly, which rather surprised me in light of what just happened.

I felt my hands shaking as I turned the crank to activate the electric turret controls to turn the turret to the right. Slowly, the cloud of smoke from the shot came into view in the scope, then I saw the enemy tank and I almost jumped when I saw its cannon pointing straight at us, but I held it in and kept calm. I quickly calibrated the sights for 200 meters, and put the crosshairs directly on the enemy tank. As procedure, I yelled "Firing!" and then pulled the trigger. There was massive explosion that roared power from the firing howitzer which jerked backwards from the momentous recoil and slowly the barrel rolled back into place. Then, as I looked down the scope, I saw a large spiral of distorting air with the brightly glowing tracer of the shell in the center of the spiral, the tracer got smaller and smaller with extreme speed until it seemed to disappear into the enemy tank. The shell exploded into an expanding cloud of orange red fire that grew taller than the surrounding trees, which then cooled into black smoke.

Once the smoke cleared, I saw the same enemy tank destroyer in the singed bushes, but the front of it was twisted and wrecked open in an ungainly manner, smoke and fire spewed from the torn front of the enemy corpse. The gun was pointing downward, looking limp and defeated. I was amazed; I destroyed my first enemy with the simple pull of a lever. I looked around at the rest of my crew, and they were all staring at me looking anxious to know what happened, then I realized Charles and I were the only ones who could see what was going on outside the tank, and so I told them,

"We killed our first Nazi, gentlemen!" A good deal of cheering me on ensued. But Charles reminded them of the mission and their duties, the radioman sent out a message to nearby allies that we destroyed an enemy vehicle and that we're still operational, the loaders slowly pushed another 110lb. shell into the 152mm breech of the howitzer once more, and the driver stepped on the pedal again, and we were off. I felt invincible, but that feeling wouldn't last.

**NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!**

Again the monotonous rumbling of the engine went on, I got used to the darkness and bumpiness of the ride inside the machine. My anxiety and claustrophobia began to settle, and I felt more confident that I could survive this. Then after about ten minutes, Charles had spotted another enemy,

"There might be some sort of heavy tank at around eleven thirty, see what you can see gunner, and driver, stop the tank."

The rumbling ceased, and I wasn't shaking with anxiety anymore, I was more confident about my movements and actions. So I turned the turret to the left until a strange shape came into view; it looked like a large square sort of machine,

"I see a tank, it looks like a brick, and I'm not sure what it is." I said back to Charles.

"Dear god, there is only one enemy tank that looks like a brick," Charles seemed to get nervous for the first time in the tank, his voice stuttering, "It's…it's…it's a Tiger tank! Quick, fire at it! Range about 400 meters!"

The Tiger tank is the biggest tank they Nazis had to offer, a formidable machine, it had even thicker armor than the KV series and a more powerful gun (but not a bigger gun, so ours still bigger than theirs, heh heh heh heh). So, I calibrated the sights, making sure to keep calm and not make any mistakes, but then as I was about to pull the trigger, all I remember is a loud penetrating sound of ripping metal that left an even greater ringing in my ears, then things seemed to get blurry, I think I must've fell over, hit my head and I then all I saw was black.

**NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!**

Hooray! Finished! I'd promised I'd update before a month would pass, and about 25 days have passed! Woot! Please review, give suggestions on how the story could go from here and such, and have nice day.


	4. Balls of Steel

The Brave Bear

"Balls of Steel"

Chapter 4

Hullo there ladies and gentlemen, we are back with another chapter of the Brave Bear; edited by my chief editor, Gravus02cx. As usual, please review as you see fair.

**NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!**

I saw the roof of the great juggernaut, my vision a little bit reddened. I felt a bit of pain on my head from where I must've fallen. I got a sense of where I was, and felt someone shaking me.

"Alex! You're alive! Thank god! Get back on the gun, quick, the Tiger is about to shoot again!"

I got up, with the help of Charles. He told me that the Tiger's shell only hit our gun mantle, which was essentially a metric butt-ton of appliqué armor, so it didn't penetrate. But the shockwave of the shell impacting got through and knocked me out. How kind of the Nazis, I thought, so time to pay back the favor. I put the crosshairs directly on the Tiger tank's turret to blow it off and calibrated the sights to 400 meters. I yelled "Firing!" then pulled the trigger and the howitzer roared like a great dragon once more, filling the turret with smoke and the strong smell of burnt powder. The shell screamed out of the cannon and struck the Tiger's turret directly on its gun mantle. The gun barrel of the Tiger flew off to the right in a clang and the turret slid off the hull in a piercing shriek of metal to metal friction. I'd got him alright.

"Chalk up another kill, men! We destroyed that overgrown steel kitten!" I shouted, and the crew cheered for me again. This seemed easier than I thought, in only one day, we had two kills, had survived two shots, and best of all, nobody had died.

After a long period of waiting, the line of trees from the forest began to break and the city was in view, even though it was mostly smoking wrecks. Oh well. We had to take it back for Russia. Our orders were to stop at the end of the forest, let the headquarters know our status and wait for the commanding officers to tally up who had survived and who hadn't. Our call for role came around and the radioman gave the officers a report of what happened, our crew killing two enemies and still fully operational. It took at least half an hour for the entire force to be tallied, and then the report crackled over the radio from the headquarters,

_"Alright tankers, this is the tally of the mechanized force. A good deal of you have survived the forest; we started out with a force of one hundred BT series and A-20 light tanks, seventy five medium T-34 tanks, and fifty KV series heavy tanks, we've lost five light tanks, three mediums and only one heavy from explosive mines and hidden anti-tank guns. We are sending out air reconnaissance to get a sense of what you tankers are up against. Stay put at the edge of the forest and we'll let you know the enemy's numbers in about an hour. For now, remain undetected, Headquarters out."_

All I felt was total relief; I could rest for a bit. So I leaned back onto my chair and closed my eyes.

"Don't nap for too long Alex. Don't want you to oversleep." Charles said.

"Then wake me in ten minutes." I tried to get a quick catnap, but almost immediately after I said that we heard some sort of gun fire. I look up and asked Charles,

"Hey Charles, what was that?"

"It could be anti aircraft flak, maybe, but I'm not sure."

Well, orders were orders, so I just remained waiting along with the rest of the crew. The sound of firing guns kept on going for a while. Charles seemed to get troubled by this and ordered the radioman to contact nearby allied tanks to see if they knew what was going on. Other tankers' voices crackled over the radio, sounding very distressed,

"_This is light tank A-20, tracked and immobile. Being shelled by enemy; can't spot where they're shooting, S.O.S."_

"Well damn, the Nazis must've hacked into the radio broadcast from the headquarters. They're guessing where we are and are probably trying to scare us away with some bombardment. Radioman, tell all tanks within signal range to back up at least 200 meters, and try to find that A-20 in distress." Charles said. I was amazed at how well he dissected what was going on around us. He should've been drafted as a tactician instead.

"I'm sorry sir, but that isn't in your authority, but I can still find the A-20." The Radio operator replied.

"God damn it, I'm the Commander of this tank and you will tell other friendly vehicles to fall back, it is for the better for this attack that as many people are available to attack this city, so tell them to get out of enemy shelling range now!" Charles shouted. I've never seen him so angry; it took either extreme foolishness or true bravery to disregard what the head quarters ordered, which was to stay put at the edge of the forest. At the same time, Charles was right in making sure our allies take as little damage from artillery as possible by falling back some.

"Yes sir." The radio operator said sheepishly; he started relaying the message. Minutes after the radio man sent out the message, he finished and told the commander that the A-20 in distress is about 500 meters to the east along the border of the forest.

"Head there now driver, but back up first so we aren't spotted by the enemies." Charles ordered.

"Yes sir, commander." The driver replied and the tank's engine rumbled to life again. Slowly, the machine turned and began steadily toward the ally in distress.

**NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!**

The ally was spotted, and was definitely a Russian, from the crude green paint scheme and its sloped shape.

"Radio man, contact the A-20 and check their status." Charles said.

_"A-20, this is friendly KV-2, we are within 100 meters of your position, what is your status?" _The operator spoke into the radio.

Their voices crackled over the speakers, _"All crew alive and accounted for, the commander has taken hit in his back from shrapnel, but the hit is superficial. We've suffered engine damage and destroyed tracks, and our tool box has been blown off from the shelling explosions. Please help."_

The operator replied _"Affirmative! We'll help you momentarily, standby."_

"Alright then, Alex and I are going to help them. Get the toolbox Alex." Charles ordered.

I nodded and grabbed the toolbox; it was heavy with pieces of machined steel in it which clanked around as I ran to the allied tank. It was hard to keep up with Charles as usual, especially with all the heavy things I had to carry along. Charles nimbly climbed onto the top of the A-20's turret, opened the hatch and said something to the commander inside, letting him know that we're going to start repairing their tank, and someone jumped out of the tank to help Charles and I along.

"Hello, I am Peter, the driver of the A-20, thank you for lending us your toolbox." Peter said. He was a native Russian with pale skin and blond hair, and soft blue eyes. He was around my age and looked much like me except that I had black hair. Peter seemed like a soft spoken and mild mannered gentlemen and quickly got to work on replacing the tracks to his tank, he seemed experienced at being a mechanic, the way his hands moved so sure and deftly around the undercarriage of the tank, tightening bolts and re-setting the track onto the drive wheels. Within 15 minutes, the tracks were replaced and the engine was somewhat functional.

"Thank you for the help." Peter repeated, and went back to his machine and drove off back to headquarters to make proper repairs.

But, as the machine turned around, automatic cannon fire started to pepper the rear end of the A-20, which was now taking serious damage to the engine, and subsequently caught fire. The awful fumes of oil and human flesh being incinerated permeated the air. All the while, Charles and I dropped to the ground to avoid being hit. Suddenly, a rather small but very agile grey colored machine popped out of the bushes. It had the Nazi crossings on it and zoomed straight for the now smoldering wreckage of the A-20.

"Damn, it looks like some sort of German light tank, maybe a Leopard." Charles said under his breath. Then, I remembered that there were some emergency weapons inside the toolbox for a situation like this, being caught in the open.

"Charles, hand me the toolbox." I said curtly,

"What do you need it for?"

"Just give it, you'll see." He gave me the toolbox and I pulled out a belt of grenades. I truly wished I had a better plan to take on the Leopard tank, but I had little choice. I remembered that there were 5 seconds before these grenades go off after you pull the pin.

Momentarily, the Leopard tank came to a halt meters away from the wreckage of the A-20, seemingly to inspect their kill. How arrogant, they'll regret that decision.

I ran with all my energy to the enemy machine, screaming and roaring out of anger from killing Peter moments after I'd met him. I climbed onto of the turret of the tank, running into the enemy German commander, just as he popped out of his hatch. He looked at me in shock, so I pulled out one pin from the grenade, started counting to five, _"1…" _and gouged his right eye with the pin; his blood spurted all over me. Then I socked him hard as I could into his left temple using the belt of grenades for crude brass knuckles _"2…"_ and he fell down onto the floor of the vehicle _"3…"_ I pulled the pins on all of the bombs, one by one _"4…"_, and tossed the belt of explosives down the hatch, and then I latched it tightly. As I jumped off the side of the enemy vehicle, I could hear exclamations and curses some sort of German rambling. Then, muffled bangs went off inside the enemy tank, like firecrackers in a trash can, each one leaving a slight ringing sound and inducing a cry of agony from inside the vehicle and puffing smoke out of its crevices, the fifth and final explosion caused the engine block of the tank to catch fire. The flames gave off the fumes of burning oil and human flesh yet again and I was getting rather sickened of it.

I got up, amazed how well my plan worked, and headed back to the tank. Charles looked at me with his jaw dropped,

"Wow, that's some idea you had Alex, like they say in my country, that's balls of steel." Charles exclaimed.

"What does that mean?"

"It means that plan of yours and how you did it showed that you are as tough as nails."

"What?"

"You had guts pulling that off." Charles said, sounding rather annoyed,

"Of course I have guts, can't live without them."

"Damn it Alex, you and your lack of vernacular, err, how to put this, you fought like a bear then! Understand that?"

"Yes, thank you." I smiled to myself. I suppose I fought like a bear; I realized I was still covered with blood.

Back inside my tank, the familiar smell of gunpowder and oil comforted me, sort of. I felt that I might grow to think of this machine as my new temporary home, though it was nothing pretty. The radioman looked up from his map of coordinates; he had a rather troubled look on his face,

"Hey Commander, how'd fixing the friendly go? I heard some explosions and plenty of engines."

"Ah, that, you see, we ran into an enemy Leopard scout tank that destroyed the A-20 when it was trying to get back to base. The crew of the Leopard made the mistake of inspecting its kill by getting up close to the wreckage, all the while; Alex found the stash of emergency arms inside the toolbox in the form of a belt of grenades. He climbed on top of the Leopard tank, knocked out the commander who was about to come out and tossed the bunch down the hatch. The bombs destroyed all of the bastards inside the Leopard tank and the engine caught on fire, definitely another kill for Alex. He was roaring like a bear the whole time, scary almost." Charles announced. He gave me a glance, almost out of disbelief of he saw minutes ago.

"…" Was all the crew could say, it seemed so impossible to believe, even for me. But I did it alright.

"Yup, I don't blame you, that's the same thing I said when I saw Alex do all of that. Radioman, just report that another light tank is down and that we've destroyed an enemy light tank, and you don't have to put in any of the unbelievable stuff. Let's get going for now, 200 meters behind our original position at the edge of the forest 500 meters to the west." Charles ordered. Swiftly, the crew got to action. "Oh yeah, and Alex,"

"What?" I replied.

"Might you want to wash that blood off now?"

"Nah, I'm alright. Not too sure why, but I sincerely don't mind it." Charles just gave me a look.

**NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!**

At Charles' assigned position, I sat around waiting for orders to come through. The enemy shelling stopped because there were seemingly no Russian tanks on the edge of the forest, at least, to the German reconnaissance, thanks to Charles' independent command to fall back out of enemy spotting and shelling range. This was why some enemy scouts were sent out, to check out if the detected radio signals from our H.Q. were true. One of the enemy scouts was put out of action from my own hands; I chuckled from the thought, feeling a bit proud of myself.

All allied tanks have retreated to a safe point in the forest and are all waiting for orders. It was past an hour from when they announced the tallies and the aerial reconnaissance, which is odd, the Russian air force usually are spot on time. Perhaps the case of Charles taking command of the tank force was being heavily debated now at the H.Q.; Charles either gotten himself into deep shit for disobeying orders or might've earned himself a medal for saving a good deal of friendly tanks from enemy shelling with that one order. Shortly afterwards, a voice sounded over the radio,

"_This is headquarters, I repeat, this is headquarters. Aerial reconnaissance has spotted all of the enemy forces defending the town. Looks like we out number them again, we currently have a total of about 215 tanks, and 7,000 infantry to take back this city while the Germans seem to have about 150 tanks and 2,000 infantry. But don't get cocky, these guys seem well armed and are dug in deep, the tanks will lead the charge while the infantry follow to take the town. Watch out, most of the enemy's armored forces are Tiger's and some mystery machine that has not been seen before. On my mark, get ready to charge!"_

The entire crew seemed to all get a bit jumpy, Tiger tanks? We were lucky enough to survive one hit from those monsters, but then there was some mystery machine to fight? Lord, this seemed like a battle of no return. I was getting doubtful, but I mentally slapped myself, no, that is not the way I should think, in a defeated manner, for I am the soldier that singlehandedly took out a scout tank with little more than hand grenades and hand grenade pins, I am the under trained underdog that still managed to destroy three enemy tanks, I am the brave bear and I will help my crew win this battle!

The radio crackled to life for the last time,

"_This is headquarters, I repeat, this is headquarters, we are halfway through the battle plan, and all we need to do now is to take this city. Remember, god is with you. Charge!"_

"You heard him driver, step on it!" Charles commanded. With those last words, the engine roared to life again and the KV-2 made its way slowly but surely to the captured city.

**NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!**

I never knew the purpose of the ear muffs until now; as the KV-2 slowly crept toward the city, we would be inevitably detected, and we were being fired at. A lot.

Bullets from small arms fire, machine gun fire, automatic cannons and light artillery all shrieked and screamed off of the thick armor of the KV-2. I suppose they were saving the Tiger's mighty guns for last when we actually got into the city, but in the meantime, I put on my earmuffs and tried to listen for Charles' orders over the noise of the enemy bullets. I was firing the howitzer left and right, making a lot of close range hits against tanks that were no match against the mighty howitzer. Eventually, the gun was getting red hot and Charles said to stop firing and keep on advancing, and I was glad for that, the gun gave off so much of the burnt powder smell I was beginning to choke on it.

I took my quick break, to let the gun cool, to keep track of the shells. The KV-2 was loaded with an assortment of different shells, but chiefly high explosives. The shells totaled to 36 pieces of ammunition, 20 being HE (high explosives), 4 being AP (armor-piercing), 4 being HEAT (high explosive anti-tank) and 8 being CP (concrete-piercing, able to penetrate feet upon feet of reinforced concrete, mostly for bunkers, sometimes for tanks). So far, we'd fired 2 HE shells in the forest and 7 attacking the city, leaving us with 11 shells of H.E. I think we'd fair well enough with the amount of ammo we had, but I'm not sure about the mystery machine.

I was still waiting for the gun to cool some more, for it was hot enough to cook morning eggs on. Then, I noticed that there were other machines heading toward the city, plenty of them were KV-2s, and I felt a bit of joy almost, having such a strong force with tanks like these, how could we lose?

Moments later, Charles ordered me on the gun again. Firing left and right once more. Down to 8 HE shells. Then I realized that most of my targets were almost point blank, and we were _in _the city. I'm sure those Tigers would jump out any moment now, along with their mystery counterparts.

I began to realize a weakness of the KV-2, when we had to round a corner, it turned like a brick. Charles noted this to and had the radioman check up on other tanks to see how far behind or ahead we were.

"_This is KV-2, we are about one-third into the town, is anyone else that far?"_

"_This is the commanding tank, no, most vehicles aren't even in the town, try to stay put and wait. And tell your commander he is in deep shit for disobeying orders!"_

"_Err, yes sir commander."_

"_Commander out." _The crackling ceased.

"What'd he say?" Charles asked.

"Now, don't get angry at me, but he said that you're in deep shit for disobeying orders. He also said most allied tanks aren't even in the town, so he said not to advance any further."

Charles merely chuckled, "Nice man, the commander is. Well, driver, you heard him, just stop here for now and wait for the rest of the slowpokes to catch up."

**NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!**

I began to truly feel at home in this smelly, noisy machine, and even though I was in the middle of a battle, I was getting bored. So I thought to chat with Charles,

"Hey Choo Choo," A couple of the crew chuckled,

"Gunner, you know your place and you know what my duty title is." Charles replied harshly, I looked at him in shock, I knew he could be serious in the midst of battle, but not to the point of almost forgetting that I was his pal.

"Gee Alex, I was joking," He chuckles, "The look on your face was priceless, what's up?"

"Ah, you damned Brit, heh. Now I wanted to ask you, when you were shipped over here, had you already been in the British tank corps? I mean, you really know what you're doing and you do it so fluently."

"Oh yeah, I've been in the tank corps since I was 15 years of age, so for a year I've been a tanker."

"Wow, you must really be worth your salt. But wait, Britain isn't that desperate for soldiers, you're underage, how'd you get in?"

"I changed my date of birth, and I look tall for my age, so I suppose that got me in."

"Why'd you want to get in the army, into this fighting? It's all so pointless, the world powers fighting and killing just to prove a point. I hate the idea, but I kind of like the adrenaline."

"You almost answered your own question there, Alex. I was living a humdrum life of school and studying. I know that education is important for jobs and all, but the idea of going into the army was real exciting for me." His eyes almost sparked when he said that. "I'd be able to see Europe, I'd be able to get into exciting fights, and most importantly, I'd be able to see girls from all over Europe." I chuckled, so that's where he got his experience. "Why not take up the deal? With my army credentials, I could get a good job and further education, and this is all promised and secured. Sure it has its risks, fighting like this, but when this war is over in a few years, I'll be sure to live large and maybe even be able to move to America. I hear they're a surplus of sexy blondes in the states."

I chuckled, "You really have it all set out Charles, real ambitious of you. If we can get through these battles maybe you can live out your life just like you planned. Say, why'd you want to specifically be transferred to the Russian front? The fighting over here is much more brutal than in Europe."

"The army pays more if you fight for the Russians."

"Ah." I felt a little downcast when Charles said that, he only did it for the money, but at the same time, I am glad he is a part of my crew and I made him a good friend.

Truly now, I felt at home in the KV-2, getting to know Charles, relaxing, nearly enjoying myself. I began to think of Marie, I'd never forget her, and how she would always be thinking of me.

**NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!**

I feel too lazy to complete the rest of the chapter that I'd planned, so I'll leave it off here. This chapter is slightly rushed because I wanted to get this out before school is back and sucks me into the portal of useless knowledge. So, as usual, please review as you see fit, and this story was edited by Gravus02cx.


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